A Mom’s Lesson Learned Raising an Autistic Child

By Tammy, on November 5th, 2013

Raising an Autistic child can be very challenging, and at times heartbreaking. The following story is an autism mom’s lesson learned raising her autistic child. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. It’s sad, but also inspiring.

It was 6:09 pm on a chilly November evening when the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen came into this world, struggling with all her might to join our close knit family. My little beautiful angel girl had a rough day ahead on oxygen and then a few more under the UV lights to rid her of the jaundice that had set in. She could not breastfeed, something she just couldn’t get a hold of, but none of that mattered, all I wanted was to bring her home.

As a parent you have expectations or shall I say dreams of what is to come for your child. All of the milestones to make, the potty training, ABC’s and the like, but you’re never prepared when you find out your sweet little one may have a “problem”. At first knowledge that our child had autism we were of course, like many other parents, unsure of what to do. There was so much starting at the time on treatments, traditional and unconventional, where do we begin? The one thing that we did know for sure is that she was going to receive the most love that any baby ever has.

There were many rough days ahead, hard times trying to understand her cries, challenges with her digestion and other health problems, and most of all her inability to speak. But through it all, God has given us the compassion to help make strides with her that we never thought were possible. The patience to try and try again, the strength to keep giving her hugs and kisses even when she would push us away. The diligence to try everything that may help and read everything we can get our hands on. She has made astronomical leaps forward in every way possible thanks to that love that is deep inside us all. She has taught us so much, so many lessons of understanding that we would have never learned otherwise and we are eternally grateful to her for coming into our lives. Sarah has been a blessing that we could have never expected and what an amazing person she is! The important lesson here is to not forget to take that deep breath every now and then, love these babies and all their beauty with all you’ve got, throw out your old expectations and when life’s speed bumps come your way, dig in deep and hit them head on because what’s on the other side is amazing.

My Lesson

By Meredith Myers

(Publisher’s Note: I think this is a great story, and wanted to bring it back to the attention of my readers. I’m republishing this from 2010.)